Page 108 of Rules of Engagement

"Even potential killers?"

"You bet," said Lily. "Although there's a bunch of people they will have to get through first before they reach me so they'll be pretty exhausted if they do get here! Now, go, and don't worry about us. We've got this covered."

Delgado left the room as I returned. I pulled up the chair to Solomon's side and wrapped both my hands around one of his before I began to talk openly, telling him what he meant to me. I spoke for a long time. I told him that when I first met him, I was so grateful for the job he gave me since it totally changed my life. I told him how I'd come to love him and would always be in love with him.

When I ran out of things to say, I watched the monitors blinking for a long time. Now, all I could do was wait as the room slipped further into darkness, the pale quarter moon casting a soft ray of light between the vertical blinds.

I didn't remember falling asleep but I must have because I awoke suddenly in the dark, with my head on the mattress, although I was still half sitting on the chair. The small, digital click blinked that it was quarter to four in the morning in artificial green light. Solomon's hand slipped from mine so I leaned over, adjusting my chair and rolling my shoulders to ease the aches that chronically set in. I reached for his hand, placing it between mine again. It took me a few minutes to realize the tapping against my wrist was neither a pulse nor my imagination.

Gently, I eased my hands apart.

Solomon's index finger moved.

The breath caught in my throat. I waited, unblinking. It moved again.

"John?" I whispered.

A cough, barely audible. Then through the gloom, a hoarse rasp. "Lexi?"

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